Talk:Edmun Dragonsbane/@comment-24524001-20140210192105/@comment-24524001-20140213202937
"I don't believe Edmun is botched at all. The amount of exposition and his importance as a character seems to scale just fine. There isn't much, because there doesn't need to be." I think it's a matter of just how much of a story and how well-written character you expect in a game. Personally, I just expect more. As you yourself say "there isn't much to be fleshed out there" - so you do admit that there's indeed very little to the duke, then? That before the grand reveal he's really not that interesting and we know very little about him? Also - this is not an archetype we're talking about: good rulers with dark secrets are basically a cliche at this point. My main grievance with the game is that it simply does *nothing* interesting with this character, only then to throw in a twist that seems almost forced, considering just how little of his past or true motives was hinted upon (even less so if you don't follow or complete some quests the game expects you to). It's a matter of exposition and how it's done - needless to say, I don't think it's done that well and it can't really be saved by calling it 'minimalistic'. Like many DD characters, Edmun is simply underwritten. I claim so, because I have to look outside of the game to fill in many details that were simply never even lightly touched upon in a game or merely hinted here or there. Some additional info outside the game or book or series is fine, but when a great deal of it happens to land *outside* of a self-contained story, then we have a problem, because that's simply *not* good storytelling. And the game as a medium presents an incredible breadth of means to provide exposition - NPCs, cutscenes, written in-game reading material (letters, books, etc.) as well as willingnes of the audience to spend long hours in this world, interacting with it. We're past the point where games were all about gameplay and I think DD creators share my view on this, since I think overall - despite story's shortcomings - I think that from the game itself it's quite apparent that they *do* care about the story to this universe as well. It's just that there's a lot to work on in storytelling department, IMHO. "(...) if you want to discuss the narrative side of things, well that's very different. What comes to mind for me is that the Duke still needed the assistance of the Arisen. Obviously if the Arisen was a less important character that had walked in on them, the Duke could just have him executed or indefinitely imprisoned/re-imprisoned after escape. But the Arisen is apparently the only real means of quelling the Dragon's attacks." ... Then why sending the Arisen on the expedition far away from Gransys? No matter the motives, it seems that the Duke wants Arisen out and not engage the dragon - and it would make sense, if he wants to keep his bargain a secret OR keep the potential rival from the throne. See, that's the problem. We can only guess and not in a fun way - there's very little information we can extrapolate from the material we were presented. Also - if the duke isn't aware that killing the Dragon by the Arisen will undo his pact, then it puts his intelligence into question. The Dragonforged specifically mentions, probably even more than once that as long as dragon lives, all those whose hearts have been stolen will live too and as we know, Dragonforged DID mentor Edmun. Also - he WAS the Arisen, he stood before the dragon and made a bargain - the dragon very likely said to him exactly the same things he said to current Arisen: "sacrifice your beloved and you'll rule Gransys". Besides, Grigori didn't even have to say anything; I think the duke could very much put 2+2 together, seeing how people began pretty much worshipping him after he returned claiming that he's slain the beast (same with Godking Leonart). He should have seen the Arisen as a threat to his position the very moment the rumors about another one being chosen by the dragon reached his ears - THIS is where things could become fun story-wise; with some interesting dialog, interactions, plotting, twists... Instead, there's really nothing, except a few crude, 'minimalistic' hints and a lot of audience's guesswork. The whole Aelinore incident could have had been such an interesting turning point, with the castle brimming with gossip, the duke's erratic behavior coming forth (seriously, apart from Aelinore being choked and claiming that Edmun's half mad as well as Aldous' one or two comments there's nothing indicating that he's indeed unstable) - instead, there's really NOTHING. Not a single NPC I know of comments on this, reacts to this or else. It really goes way beyond Edmun sweeping this whole incident under the rug for public image's sake.